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The leopard moves on

Andrea Burgener and Nick Gordon are the brains behind Melville's much-loved eatery, The Leopard. Matthew McClure chatted to Andrea about the couple's decision to close their restaurant after seven successful years, and their plans for the future

Words:
Matthew McClure

Andrea Burgener
Image:
Supplied

You've made the decision to close The Leopard. How many years did you run the restaurant? What will you miss the most about it? We opened The Leopard in 2011. I’ll miss the utter madness of some shifts, the sense of community, and having a bowl of shiitake broth late at night.

What was your main reason for deciding to close the restaurant? Working at night and having a family is not a wonderful recipe. So I guess you could say our children were the main reason. The new Leopard (a pop-up venue at 44 Stanley Avenue in Milpark) is a way for us to still make food but hopefully manage to increase our reach, and have a more ‘normal’ life.

You and your husband Nick Gordon make a formidable team. What stands out for both of you as one of the most memorable moments at The Leopard? Nick says: doing press-ups with customers, and coming for lunch with our kids on his off-day, Saturday, to eat his favourite dishes, and maybe most memorably, being robbed at gun-point and having his teeth half-knocked out when leaving late one Friday night. For me, it’s all a blur.

What was your experience of the Melville community whilst you ran Leopard? Apart from the robbers, wonderful. Melvillites and surrounding communities are definitely our people.

What are your and your family's plans now that you'll have more time on your hands? Well, we’ll have more night-time and less day, so: Cooking dinner together (if iPads aren’t more fascinating), big movies, drinking more martinis on week-nights and finishing my next cookbook which has been on the back-burner for ever and ever.

How can people keep track of the developments at your new space at 44 Stanley? Can you tell us any more about the pop-up dinners that you're planning? We’ll post everything on our website in the next few weeks, including all the info about the pop-ups. The dinners will be for around 30 people at a time, and be a semi-set, banquet-style menu with a lot of sharing recommended. They’ll probably be happening in the old Art-On-Paper space opposite The Leopard. The full name is Leopard + (kitchen + larder + can do.)